An Inherited Promise
by Mai Kusakabe
Summary: It isn't until we lose someone that we realize all the missed opportunities we had with them. Sabo learned this the hard way, and isn't willing to make the same mistake twice.


After reading chapter 731 I had to write this. I'm not sure why it took me a week to publish, but here it is.

Warning of** spoilers** for the chapter, even if it was such a widely accepted theory already.

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**An inherited promise**

The wind blew softly over the calm low hill where the two graves stood, snaking around the swords stuck into the ground, the now rusted weapons no doubt marking many more graves for whose dwellers it hadn't been possible to create a tombstone.

For what cemeteries were, the man walking up the past from the coast had to admit it was a beautiful and impressive place, overlooking the sea in a reminder of the lives the men resting here had led.

He would have preferred this place wasn't necessary, at least not for a man this young to be occupying a coffin here, buried under the smaller of the two headstones, a cross holding the objects that had distinguished him in his last years of his life, an indicator of who lay here just as much as the name carved in the stone.

Sabo hadn't ever seen him wearing those accessories, at least not in person.

He had seen pictures, of course, he wasn't ashamed to admit he owned a collection with every picture that had ever been published of the infamous Fire Fist Ace, every article speaking of him, all of his wanted posters, showing the fast escalation of his bounty, and that in most cases he had written his own comments on these objects that formed one of his two valued collections.

Having it seemed so trivial now, so useless.

He had never got to know the real man behind those histories, behind those photos.

Sabo knelt on the grass once he reached the graves, and deposited the bouquet of flowers he carried under one arm in the space in front of them.

Then, turning towards Ace's tomb, he for now left the crate he had brought in his other hand next to him.

After long moments of silence, he smiled bitterly.

"I've thought so much about what I would say once I came here. I've come up with thousands of speeches, thousands of reasons to explain why I never came back, why I let you and Luffy believe I had died that day at sea, grieve me. But, most of all, I've thought of thousands of explanations of why I didn't come to your rescue like Luffy and your crew did. Now, being here, they all seem so shallow I can't even bring myself to say them."

He fell silent, as if waiting for an answer that obviously didn't come, and the emptiness that had always been present in his heart ever since that fateful day two years ago grew inside of him, threatening to swallow him again as it did back then.

The Ace he remembered would have yelled at him, probably even hit him for being an idiot, and he had no doubt the Ace who had died at Marineford protecting Luffy would have done exactly the same.

"I can't even apologize, it would be useless, even more than all my excuses. There are mistakes we can't make right no matter what we do, and abandoning you will haunt me forever, it doesn't matter that you would've yelled at me for being an idiot and told me it wasn't my fault. Luffy will do the same, I'm sure of it. This time I'm not going to make the same mistake again, I'm going to take care of him. I asked you to do it all those years ago in my letter, remember? And you did, you did so much for him…"

Sabo swallowed, he hadn't even tried to stop the tears as they came to his eyes and now thick, wet trails of them were falling down his face. The only thing he tried to avoid was choking in his own words. Ace had always hated weaklings, he wouldn't like it.

"Now it's my turn. I'll take things up from where you left them, so don't worry, Luffy will be fine. He's strong now, not the weak kid we used to protect all the time." Here Sabo smiled, lost in memories of happier days for a moment. Happier and simpler days where the greatest of their worries had been to make sure Luffy didn't fall into the river or got eaten by their next meal.

Finally rubbing the tears off with his sleeve, Sabo turned to take something out of the crate and, holding it in both hands, showed it to Ace, managing to grin weakly at his brother.

"Look! This came out a couple of days ago. Luffy's back! And he's gotten stronger, here it says that he beat a Pacifista with just a punch!" He could imagine Ace laughing and saying something like Luffy was still a weakling and had a long way to go. Ace had always liked to tease Luffy like that, and Sabo thought it was because he was afraid that Luffy would stop needing his older brothers' help if he became too strong. Sabo hadn't been stupid enough to tell Ace that.

Leaning forward, Sabo took a nail out of a pocket and used it to pin the newspaper article to Ace's gravestone.

"I'll leave this here, so you can be a proud older brother as much as you can."

Sabo smiled once the article was secured there. He could easily imagine Ace trying to hide how impressed and proud he was with his little brother. Or maybe he wouldn't try to hide it, as he had seemed much more outgoing in the pictures than he had been as a child. He had no doubt it had been Luffy's influence, and Sabo was really glad Ace had learned to laugh easily and learn to enjoy life more than he did as a child.

"Hey, Ace, look what I brought."

Taking out the remaining objects from the crate, Sabo turned it around with his foot and placed on it a bottle of sake and three small cups similar to the ones in which twelve years ago the three children had sworn brotherhood.

"We're not going to drink now, it would be wrong without Luffy, but I leave this here and I swear one day we'll all drink together again. You just wait for us, ok, Ace?"

Now, Sabo turned around to look at the other grave in this place.

Whitebeard.

As anyone else with a certain amount of intelligence, Sabo had heard and read a lot about this man, but had never met or even seen him with his own eyes. Still, there was something he needed to tell him. And not only him.

"Sir, everyone here. I know we haven't meet, I'm not even sure if you've heard of me or not. My name is Sabo, I'm Ace's supposedly dead other brother. I guess, for a crew with such a strong bond as a family, my disappearance and letting my brothers think me dead for so long would seem cruel and stupid and, just like I've told Ace, I'm not going to make any excuses, whatever you'd want to tell me would be justified. But still, whether I'm a good brother or not, you all have been a great family for Ace, no doubt more than he ever dreamt could be possible, and for that," Sabo knelt forward until his forehead was touching the floor, "thank you! I could never express how grateful I am that you took such great care of my brother."

Sabo waited probably more than a minute before standing up, almost as if he had let the captain respond to his words, and then knelt up again before finally standing.

With a last long look at Ace's grave, he said:

"I'm leaving now. You won't believe it, Ace, but I didn't become a pirate after all." Grinning, Sabo said: "I'm a revolutionary."

Sabo could just imagine his brother laughing at those news, probably making a comment about how that went against everything his noble background stood for even more than being a pirate, and with the memory of Ace's laughter ringing in his ears, Sabo finally turned on his heels and headed for the ship waiting for him at the shore.

Mission aside, there was still another brother to whom he owed a long postponed meeting.

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Sabo didn't really voice it here, but I believe not letting Ace know that he was fine is probably his greatest regret in life, it's just something I don't think would be easy to find the words to express.

Have you guys noticed that now there's another bouquet of flowers and a flower necklace on Whitebeard's grave besides what Sabo left there during his visit?

A review, please? :)


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